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ADDRESS 



BEFORE THE 



SOCIETY OF ALUMNI 



WILLIAMS COLLEGE, 



CHARLES DEMOND, 



18 65. 





AN 



ADDRESS 



DELIVERED BEFORE THE 



SOCIETY OF ALUMNI OF WILLIAMS COLLEGE, 



WILLIAMSTOWN, MASS 



AUGUST 1, 1865 



BY 

CHARLES DEMOND. 



BOSTON: 

PRESS OF T. K. MAIiVIN & SON, 42 CONGRESS STREET. 

1865. 



E\ff 



jD3 



WiiaiAMSTowN, August 3, 1865. 
Charles Demond, Esq. 

Dear Sir, — You are aware that with our Society of Alumni, as a body, it 
is a law, which can yield to no cucumstances, not to ask for the publication 
of the Addresses which are annually delivered before it. But individual 
members are not bound by any such inflexible rule. The undersigned, there- 
fore, who had the pleasure of listening to your Address on the first instant, 
with a view to give wider publicity and more permanent form to its simple, 
cheering and forcible presentation of some of the results of the war, now 
so happily and gloriously ended, hereby request a copy of the same for 
publication. We should be happy to see the excellent Poem of the Rev. Mr. 
Gladden published in connection with your Address, but we are informed 
that it is to receive another destination. 



Very respectfully yours. 



EMORY WASHBURI^. 
HOMER BARTLETT. 
CALVIN DURFEE. 
JOHN L. T. PHILLIPS. 
HENRY L. SABIN. 
JAMES S. KNOWLSON. 
W. T. R. MARVIN. 



Boston, August 7, 1865. 

Gentktneii,—! thank you for the kind terms of your request, and in com- 
pliance therewith I send you a copy of my Address for publication. 

Very respectfully yours, 

CHARLES DEMOND. 

To MesBrs. EMOBr WASHBURN, Homer Babtlett, 
Calvin Di'efee, John L. T. Phillips, Henuy L. 
SABIN, James S. Knowlson, W. T. li. Makvim. 



ADDRESS. 



We are gathered to-day in peace. The horrid 
scenes of war no longer disturb our land. The 
authority of our Government is acknowledged and 
submitted to, from the St. Johns to the Rio Grande. 
Our flag, baptized by the blood, and consecrated by 
the sacrifices of our fathers, re-baptized and made 
doubly sacred by the blood of our sons and brothers, 
and by the sacrifices of us all, — to-day proudly flies 
upon the breeze, a symbol of liberty secured to all 
the inhabitants of this land, — a promise and pledge 
of liberty to come, to the oppressed of every nation. 
Flowers are growing upon the graves of our fallen 
heroes, and nature,- with its thousand gentle fingers, 
is covering with forms of beauty the evidences of 
terrible strife upon our battle fields. 

In the midst of this joy and peace, there are 
many things we cannot, would not forget, but hold 
in everlasting and grateful remembrance. The 
noble men, who, at the call of our country, left the 



peaceful pursuits of home, and, all unused to war, 
cheerfully endured its privations and hardships, 
and gave limb and life for the Fatherland ; the 
fathers and mothers, wives and sisters, who, with 
more than Spartan courage, with Christian patriot- 
ism, sent forth these men to the strife, and followed 
them with prayers, and abundant and unceasing 
streams of beneficence ; the men and women of 
culture and gentle breeding, who have toiled in 
our hospitals and amid the awful scenes of the 
battle field, caring for the sufi"ering and pointing 
the dying to the better country where there is no 
war ; the generals, who have so resolutely led our 
armies to victory ; the President and members of 
our Government, who have so wisely, firmly, and 
successfully steered the ship of State ; and last and 
first, the kind Providence, who gave us all these 
blessings, and led us all our way ; — these, we would 
ever remember, and for them all render ceaseless 
thanks to God, who ruleth among the armies of 
heaven and the inhabitants of earth. 

During the past four years, our land has shaken 
under the tramp of three millions of men in arms, 
and resounded with the shouts and tumults of their 
death grapple. The conflict is over, and we now 
have leisure to calmly consider the results and 
lessons of the war. It is my purpose to refer to a 
few of these. 



I. The war has shoivn that we have a Country^ and 
a Government. 

Before the war our loyalty sat very loosely upon 
us ; — the flag of the Union called forth few 
sentiments of love and devotion, few thoughts 
of a Government to be obeyed. The Govern- 
ment at Washington had so little practical con- 
tact with us, that we thought of it more as the 
foster-mother of office-holders, than as a power to 
protect and punish us. A large portion of our 
citizens were educated from boyhood in the belief 
that their first allegiance was due to the State in 
which they were born, however insignificant ; — 
that the Stars and Stripes must be lowered to the 
Pine tree, or Palmetto. This heresy was not con- 
fined to the South. Practically it prevailed to a 
great extent even in the State where Webster lived 
and expounded the Constitution. South Carolina 
would secede if a tariff was made : Massachusetts 
would not be bound to a Union that took in Texas. 
North and South, if the action of the Government 
interfered with the favorite prejudices of the people, 
the first thought was, ' We will not submit' One 
cause of this was the prevalence of wrong ideas of 
the Constitution ; — another, the fact that the Gov- 
ernment made but little show of power. 

When this war broke out, we had in the regular 
army only 16,000 men, and a large portion of these 



were in frontier posts, away from observation. In 
March, 1861, for a Navy we had in all 90 vessels, 
with 2,415 guns ; there were only 69 vessels, with 
1,346 guns, that could be made available ; only 42 
vessels, with 555 guns, were in commission ; and 
of this small force but 12 vessels, with 187 guns, 
manned by 2,000 men, were at home; and in 
Northern ports, there were but 4 vessels, with 25 
guns, and 280 men. 

With so few forces, so situated, it is not strange 
that the Government was little respected or feared, 
while none of us had any idea of the gigantic 
power lying dormant, ready to respond to its call. 
Again, we never saw the tax-gatherer of the general 
Government, and were not reminded in this way of 
our allegiance. The war began, and this state of 
things was suddenly changed. The recruiting- 
Agent, the Provost Marshal, the Assessor and Col- 
lector of taxes, all officers of the central Govern- 
ment, entered every town and village and dwelling, 
to gather up men and means. Disloyal and dis- 
obedient men were suddenly taken to distant forts 
and prisons, and received summary justice. We, 
at the North, all learned that there was in our 
Government a power of which we had never before 
dreamed. 

To carry the same conviction through the South, 
armies and navies were created and marshalled, — 



till 2,166,288* soldiers were called forth and sup 
plied with all the terrible modern implements ol 
war, and 731 vessels, with 4,921 guns, manned by 
over 50,000 men, were launched upon the seas, — 
some of these vessels being those wonderful iron- 
clads, which have revolutionized naval warfare. 
To meet these terrible forces, the rebels called out 
1,000,000 of men, and a considerable naval power. 

The armies of the Government have met the 
rebels, and conquered them. The flag of the Union 
has been carried through all the rebellious States 
by the strong hand of pov/er. 

When I was in Richmond, just after it was taken, 
a leading Union General, who had been an old and 
intimate friend of General Lee, and who, long 
before the war, had often discussed the question of 
State rights with him, at the request of General 
Lee, called upon him. He gave me an account of 
his interview. Among other things General Lee 
said to him : — " You know I always believed in 
State rights, and that my State had my first allegi- 
ance ; having this belief, I felt bound to go with 
Virginia. But that question has now been settled 
by the highest and final arbitrament, that of arms, 
and I accept the decision. The States must submit 
to the general Government." 

* This was the number up to January 1, 1865, according to the best 
statistics obtained. 



8 

The question is settled ; we have a country — not a 
confederation of States, liable to be tojrn asunder at 
the caprice of every member, — but a country reach- 
ing from the Atlantic to the Pacific, from the Lakes 
to the Gulf; a Union of loyal citizens, that will 
last so long as education and morality and religion 
shall prevail in the land. And we have a Gov- 
ernment, all pervading, touching each individual ; 
strong enough to command the obedience of all its 
citizens, and to protect itself from foes within and 
foes without ; a Government whose humblest citi- 
zen, in whatever part of the world, finds ample 
protection in the words, " I am an American ;" — a 
government of freemen by themselves. 

II. The war has developed love of country, — true 
patriotism, — in an unexpected degree. 

Before 1861, it was common to say that the 
Yankee worshiped the dollar ; and the conspirators 
thought that it was only necessary to aff"ect the 
pecuniary interests of the North, to succeed in their 
object. Many of us feared this would be so. We 
spoke with exultation of the heroes of the Revolu- 
tion, who marked their way over the snow by blood 
from their naked feet ; of the matrons and maidens 
who, with tearful eye and tender hands, buckled on 
the sword to the loved ones going to the terrible 
contest; and we lamented that such pure and 



9 

heroic days were gone. But the first gun fired at 
the glorious symbol of our Union and life, awakened 
a response that astonished us, no less than our 
enemies. We found that we had fathers and sons, 
wives and mothers, worthy of the best days of the 
republic ; that love of country lay deeper than 
love of money, or ease. The nation sprang to arms, 
and the best blood of the land was freely poured 
out. 

I have often heard men and women at the South, 
say that the war has been a terrible evil to them, 
as their best young men had perished in it, while 
our armies were made up of foreign mercenaries. 
Any such statement about the Northern armies is 
false. Of the first million who responded to the 
call to arms, two-thirds were native born ; nine- 
tenths were citizens educated under the laws of the 
Union, and in the English language. Eighty per 
cent of the soldiers of all our vast armies, were 
native born. Men of culture, of the best blood in 
the land, bearing nearly all the old historic names 
of our early days, worthy sons of Pilgrim and 
revolutionary sires, lawyers, physicians, clergymen, 
scholars, statesmen, — abounded in this army ; not 
as officers alone, but among the privates in the 
ranks. 

One of the Rhode Island regiments was almost 
wholly composed of leading citizens of the State, 



10 

and had fifty College graduates, many of them 
eminent as professional men, in 'the ranks of its 
privates. The 18th Connecticut regiment had two 
men in it worth §200,000 each, who enlisted as 
privates, and continued through the war as privates, 
having refused commissions. A Vermont regiment 
numbered two score men of collegiate education 
among its private soldiers. An Illinois regiment, 
the famous Normal regiment, was made up almost 
exclusively of teachers. A single company of the 
Massachusetts 44th, contained thirty-five sons of 
Harvard. 

Our Alma Mater has the names of many of her 
best sons on this illustrious roll. Over two hundred 
and forty* of them have entered the army and done 
gallant service for our country ; twenty-two have 
given up life, leaving a record which will ever be 
cherished among the most precious treasures of 
the College. Twenty have been wounded. The 
Society of Alumni have erected a beautiful monu- 
ment as a tribute of respect to the patriotism of 
these our brothers. This will be dedicated after 
these services, and will ever remain, we trust, to 
quicken the patriotic ardor of the ingenuous youth, 
who shall hereafter walk these halls. 

* The numbers above comprise only those whose names have been 
obtained. On the morning of " Alumni Day" more than one hundred 
names were given to the Committee, and it is believed that the list is 
not yet complete. 



11 

One of these heroic sons of Williams, — Hopkins, 
of the Class of '64, — was the only child of our 
beloved and respected Professor Hopkins. He was 
a Lieutenant in the 1 st Massachusetts Cavalry, and 
was killed while gallantly charging upon the town 
of Ashland, near Richmond, May 11, 1864, and 
lies, like thousands of our noble heroes, upon the 
field of battle, in Virginia. He was a young man 
of much promise. During his Senior year, im- 
pelled by a sense of duty, he entered the army, 
January 6, 1864. His military career was short, 
but he won the love and confidence of his men and 
of his brother officers, and left a high reputation as 
a gallant soldier and a sincere Christian. 

We have all mourned with our friend, and as we 
mourned, we have felt assured that the Saviour, — 
whom he has so long and faithfully served, whose 
love he so tenderly, earnestly, and constantly com- 
mended to us, by his teachings and by his life while 
we were in College, — would comfort him in his 
loneliness and deep affliction, as " one whom his 
mother comforteth." 

This uprising of the nation was not a mere burst 
of enthusiasm that endured for a moment; the 
sacred fire of patriotism burned brightly during the 
war. These men, who left wealth and comfort, and 
the freedom of life belonging to freemen, endured 
hardness as good soldiers, with patience, and gave 



12 

up life cheerfully, only sorrowing tliat they could 
not do more for their country. T have seen much 
of these men and armies ; have been in hospitals 
and on battle fields ; and never have I heard an 
expression of sorrow for the sacrifices they had 
made ; the only regret was, that they could not do 
more. 

We have time for only a few instances. " Get 
the ship by the batteries," said Lieut. Cummings, 
at Vicksburg, as he lay on the deck, with one leg 
shot away, — " get the ship by, and they may have 
the other leg." 

Walter Raymond, of Andover, Massachusetts, was 
dying in Salisbury prison, of starvation and neglect. 
Said he, " I am going to die. Go tell my father I 
am ready, for I die for God, and my country : " 
and with a smile he passed away. 

After the battle of Chickamauga, a boy of sixteen 
lay in the hospital, suffering greatly by the loss of 
a leg. Said a delegate of the Christian Commission 
to him, " You have given a limb to the country, — 
do you regret the sacrifice 1 " " No," said the young 
hero, " Not at all ; I might as well lose my leg as 
to have stayed at home, and lost my country." 

Religion and patriotism were often beautifully 
combined in these last words of our heroes. 

A man from Salem, Massachusetts, named Gard- 
ner, was one day brought into City, Point Hospital, 



13 

severely wounded, with his tongue so injured that 
he could not speak. Seeing a delegate of the Com- 
mission, he motioned for pencil and paper. It was 
given him, under the expectation that he would 
ask for some bodily comfort. He wrote, " I am a 
Christian. Rally round the flag, boys," and sank 
away. 

A man lay dying in Carver Hospital, Washing- 
ton, and as he was departing, commended himself 
to God ; prayed for the President, for the country, 
and that his own death might be the means of 
advancing the good cause for which he was giving 
his life, — and died. 

In the battle of Coal Harbor, young Schneider, 
son of the well known missionary, was mortally 
wounded in a most gallant charge. " Do not weep," 
said he, " it's God's will. I wish you to write to 
my father, and tell him I have tried to do my duty 
to my country and to God." " And Chaplain, — 
the boys in the regiment, — I want you to tell them 
to stand by the dear old flag. And there is my 
brother in the Navy, — write to him and tell him to 
stand by the flag, and cling to the cross of Christ." 

Nor were our women unworthy of such men. 
They gave their best loved ones to the sacred cause. 
They cheered and encouraged the volunteer, as he 
went to the war. Their gifts and delicacies, the 
result of long and patient toil, comforted and 



14 

blessed him in camp and hospital, and on the battle 
field. They went in person, to' minister to his 
necessities. 

Mr. Stuart, of Philadelphia, called upon Mrs. 
Ellett of that City, — a lady of 84, — at her request, 
to receive a large donation for the soldiers. The 
body of a grandson, killed in battle, had just arrived, 
and was in the house. Said she, " I have given 
my two sons, Commodore Ellett and General Ellett, 
and four grand-children to my country, — I don't 
regret the gift, — if I had twenty sons, I would give 
them all, — -for the country must he jrreserved. And 
if I was twenty years younger, I would go and 
fight myself, to the last." Heroic mothers of heroic 
men, still live. 

In a scattered farming district, in New England, 
lived a mother and daughters, too poor to purchase 
materials to make into garments for the soldiers. 
Twelve miles distant, over an almost impassable 
mountain, was a Relief Association in the county 
town. Borrowing a neighbor's horse, some of 
them went regularly every fortnight to get from 
this society, garments to make up for the hospital. 
One of the managers of the association was inter- 
ested to know the secret of such devotion, and 
said to them, " You have some relatives, a son or 
brother or father, in the war, I suppose ?" "No, 
not now, our only brother fell at Ball's Blufi"." 



15 

" Why then do you feel so deep an interest in 
this work ? " " Our country's cause is the cause 
of God, and we would do what we can for His 
sake," was the sublime reply. 

"When the record of the patriotism shown in 
this war is made up, no page of it will shine with 
a more glorious light, than that which shall tell 
of the deeds of the women of the loyal States. 

We honor General Grant, for his military skill, 
his comprehensive plans, his patient perseverance, 
and his wonderful achievements ; but we love him 
for his modesty, and true, unselfish patriotism. 
One instance only, of many, can I give. About a 
month before Lee's surrender, General Grant told 
President Lincoln that he should " take Richmond 
and destroy Lee's army, before General Sherman 
came near enough to give any assistance, and for 
this reason : it would be better for the future peace 
of the country, after the war was over, and prevent 
recrimination between the East and the West. 
The Eastern army had fought long and well, but 
had not yet achieved great success. The Western 
army had met with success, and acquired great 
glory. If now they should help take Richmond, 
there would ever be unpleasant words between 
the different sections of the country." 

The glorious result we all know ; but when we 
remember that General Grant is a Western man. — 



16 

that the Western army is his first command, his 
favorite army, — we have abundant reason to re- 
joice that he is not only a great general, but a 
pure patriot. 

And, in this connection, I must allude to the 
beloved President, who led our nation with such 
faith and patience and charity through its dangers 
to peace and safety, and then received a martyr's 
crown. No one thing gave Mr. Lincoln such 
power, as the conviction of the people that he 
was purely and honestly doing what he thought 
Avas best for his country. 

I saw him often in reference to work for the 
army, and at each interview, the conviction was 
deepened in my own mind, that his heart was set 
by all means to save the country. He often spoke 
of his dependence upon God, and his confidence 
that he would overrule all his own plans for 
the best. 

The last time I saw him alive, was when the 
members of the Christian Commission called upon 
him in January last. After Mr. Stuart, the chair- 
man, had made an address, thanking him for what 
he had done to aid the work, Mr. Lincoln charac- 
teristically said : " You owe me no thanks for 
what I have been able to do for you ; if I may be 
permitted to say it, 1 owe you no thanks for what 
you have so excellently done for the country and 



17 

for me. We are both alike, working in the same 
cause ; and it is the fact of its being a just one, 
which gives us our mutual joy and reward in its 
service." 

When the great armies of the Republic were 
gathered at Washington, for the grand review, the 
tents and chapels of the Christian Commission 
were thronged with men, who had, by battles and 
marches, and suffering, saved their country and 
their flag, but who now were asking aid, that, in 
their own words, " they might go home better men, 
to become better citizens." I looked upon the 
serried ranks of these veterans, and listened to their 
tramp, for two days, while they were passing the 
President's stand; — saw the tattered and battle 
stained flags, which they had triumphantly carried 
in an hundred fights, and beheld in their coun- 
tenances, intelligence and self-respect. 

As I thought of the mighty deeds they had done, 
of the love of country which had called them from 
home, and of the same pure love of country that 
now prompted the desire to be " better men," as 
they went home to lay down their arms, — I felt 
that no nation, and no age, had given purer, or 
more glorious exhibition of patriotism, than was 
shown by these citizen soldiers of the Union. 

We will have no fear that love of country will 
die out, so long as God has work for this nation 
to do. 



18 

III. The war has developed l)enevoletice and be- 
nevolent action^ in a remarkable manner. 

The expenses of this war have been enormous, 
and have borne heavily upon all. The taxes have 
been large, and constantly increasing. Our public 
debt which represents but part of the expenses of 
the war, amounts to ^3,000,000,000. Most of this 
has been taken by our own people, who thus 
showed their confidence in the Government, and 
their determination to support it. Under these 
circumstances, we should naturally expect that but 
little money would be given away. How different 
the fact ! 

The voluntary contributions to the war, and for 
the aid of the soldiers, have amounted to the enor- 
mous sum of over §300,000,000.* This has been 
given cheerfully, literally poured out for the coun- 
try, and its brave defenders. 

Some of the most delightful memories of my life, 
are in connection with this free giving. It was my 
privilege with others,! to sit on the Exchange in 
Boston, after the battles of Gettysburg, the Wilder- 
ness, and after the taking of Richmond, to receive 
the voluntary offerings of the people, for the relief 
of the wounded. No one was asked to give. No 

* This is believed to be much too small a sum. See Philanthropic 
Results of the War. Published in New York, February, 1864. 

t Edward S. Tobey, Esq., and others of the Army Committee of the 
Boston Young Men's Christian Association. 



19 

attempt was made to awaken enthusiasm, except 
by giving notice in each day's papers of the fact, 
and of the sums given. In a few days, on the first 
occasion, ^35,000 were handed in ; on the second 
occasion, over $60,000, and on the third, $30,000. 
These munificent sums were made up of compara- 
tively small contributions : — only one sum as large 
as $1,000 was given, — and from that to ten cents. 
It was a movement of the people. At times there 
was a crowd around the tables, and many were 
waiting their turn to give. 

The manner of giving was equally remarkable. 
" This is my thank-off'ering," was a frequent remark. 
" We must take care of the boys who fight for us," 
another. While a large proportion said with a 
smile, " If you want more, call on me." Contribu- 
tions soon began to come in by mail, on each occa- 
sion, and continued after we had left the Exchange, 
until the sums received, were $100,000, $60,000, 
and $50,000. Such noble, spontaneous giving, was 
not confined to Boston ; in all our great cities, it 
was the same. The Christian Commission was out 
of funds at one time, and appealed for help. In 
little over a week, $200,000 were sent in. 

Wealth and poverty met at the common altar of 
country. Stewart and Vanderbilt each gave their 
hundred thousand dollars. A poor woman of 
eighty, in Amherst, Massachusetts, who supported 



20 

herself by her needle, walked a long distance to 
give her five cents. 

In a small town of New Hampshire, a delegate * 
of the Christian Commission told of his work to a 
small audience. When the boxes were passed, an 
old man of eighty put in a small, red cotton hand- 
kerchief The collector, thinking he had made a 
mistake, took it up to return it ; but he made a sign 
to have it retained. When the meeting was over, 
the clergyman of the place, said to the speaker : — 
" Captain Weston has given you the last thing 
that he has, that he could give. A few years ago, 
the only one of his sons who could aid him, came 
home to take charge of his aged parents, and they 
looked to him for support in their declining years. 
When the war came, the son felt it to be his duty 
to enlist. He went with his father's blessing, and 
he now fills a soldier's grave in the South. When 
he fell, the old man supported himself and his aged 
wife, by his labor. He is utterly penniless. He 
recently told me, he would be glad to do something 
for benevolence, but for six months, said he, ' I have 
had but three cents of my own.' " 

Even corporations, which from time immemorial 
have been said to have no souls, have shown in 
their action, the impulses of large and generous 
souls. The railroad companies, all over the land, 

* Prof. E. T. Quimby. 



21 

have given transportation to the value of many 
hundreds of thousands of dollars, — the Christian 
Commission alone, having received, in this way, 
over ^200,000, — besides large sums in money, — 
^5,000 at a time. The telegraph companies have 
given the free use of their lines, worth at least 
^75,000. Banks, insurance and other companies, 
have contributed largely in money. 

These gifts to the country were not confined to 
money alone. Time and patient toil have been 
given. The value of these, none can estimate. In 
every town, and in almost every family, busy hands 
have been stitching and knitting articles that have 
borne not only comfort to the bodies, but cheer to 
the hearts of the patriot heroes in the field, as they 
were thus reminded that loved ones at home still 
remembered them. 

The Christian Commission and the Sanitary 
Commission have been managed by merchants 
and professional men of large business, who have 
given most of their time for years, with no com- 
pensation, but the satisfaction of helping those 
who were doing noble service at the front. 

Nor must we forget the thousands of men and 
women of culture, and Christian heroism, who 
have gone to the hospital, camp and battle-field, 
as delegates and agents of these Commissions, and 
of the various aid associations, and been literally 



22 

angels of mercy, amid those scenes of carnage 
and misery. The records of their deeds can be 
adequately written only on the books that shall be 
opened at the great day. 

Not only time and money, but articles long kept 
on account of sacred associations, have been cheer- 
fully given. • 

A lady in Londonderry, N. H., contributed a 
silver dollar, which her mother, when dying, gave 
to her twenty years ago, and which she had kept 
sacred ever since. But she said : " That mother, 
if now living, I think would have given the 
dollar;" so she, acting up to her convictions of 
her mother's wishes, gave the precious coin to 
her country and her God. Here is the wedding 
ring of a widow. She first gave her only son to 
die for his country, and then withheld not this 
dear pledge of love, made sacred by the death 
of him who gave it to her. Such benevolence 
gives to patriotism a purer lustre, and makes even 
the smoke and carnage of battle radiant with the 
reflected brightness of heaven. 

IV. This war has shown the power of the prin- 
cip>les of Christianity^ when eajhihited in the lives 
of those who teach them. 

My illustrations upon this point will all be drawn 
from the work of the Christian Commission, with 
which I am most familiar. 



23 

The work of this noble charity in the army, has 
been done by men who have received no pay, who 
left the comforts of home, and met the hardships 
of the camp, simply to do good to the bodies and 
souls of the soldiers. All the men sent out by 
this Commission, professed to have adopted as the 
rule of their lives, the precepts and example of 
the blessed Lord, who left the glories of heaven 
to seek and save the lost. As they were commis- 
sioned, they were told to go to the army ; and in 
camp and on the battle field, in the hospital, and 
by the way, to do for those they met, " whatsoever 
they would that men should do unto them." 

And I think I am authorized to say, that never 
since the wonderful saying fell from the lips of 
Jesus, has its spirit been more fully, nobly, and 
heroically carried into practice, than by these 
delegates. Nearly five thousand such men have 
gone to the army to labor, " without money and 
without price." 

In this work, judges have left the bench, pro- 
fessors their chairs, clergymen their parishes, 
lawyers their briefs, doctors their patients, mer- 
chants their goods, mechanics their shops, students 
their books, and even members of Congress their 
seats. Like the Master, they cared for the body 
in all its wants, and at the same time offered the 
bread and water of life to the hungry, fainting 



24 

souls. The Union soldier, and the rebel, when 
sick or wounded, were alike cared for. 

After the battle of Antietam, a gentleman passing 
over the field of blood, saw a man washing at a 
brook ; as he came near, he recognized a Doctor of 
Divinity, the pastor of one of the largest churches 
in Philadelphia. Said he : " Doctor, what are you 
doing 1 " The Doctor straightened up, and pointing 
with his finger, said, " Over yonder, are six hundred 
wounded men ; most of them lying in the bloody 
shirts in which they were wounded. Our shirts 
are out," — (he was a delegate of the Christian Com- 
mission,) — " and we shall have none till to-morrow 
morning, — so I thought I would take a few of the 
worst out here, wash them, and dry them in the 
sun. Do you think there is any harm in it ? " 
Said the gentleman, " Doctor, I know God has 
blessed you abundantly, in your work in Philadel- 
phia, but I do not think the Master ever looked 
upon any act of your life, with more pleasure than 
upon this." " I believe it," said the Doctor, and 
turned to his washing. 

In the Peninsular campaign, a delegate found 
sixty-five men, sick and wounded, lying on the 
second floor of a barn, just under the roof. The 
Virginia sun was pouring upon the building, but a 
few feet above their heads, with July heat. They 
were suft"ering much. The delegate gave them 



25 

some delicacies, and then asked the soldier nurse, 
to wash their heads and feet. " I did not enlist to 
wash men's feet," was the reply. " Bring me the 
water, then, and I will do it." The water was 
brought, and the gentleman washed the heads and 
hands and feet, of the sixty-five suffering men. 

After the battle of Gettysburg, there were heavy 
showers ; and wounded men, lying upon the banks 
of a brook, were in danger of drowning. The dele- 
gates rushed to save them. The men were severely 
wounded and very sore. They could not well be 
carried without great pain. " Lay them upon my 
back," said one, going into the water upon his 
hands and knees. The wounded men, one after 
another, were put upon his back, and thus tenderly, 
carried out of danger. 

When the great hospital at City Point was first 
established, the trouble from dust was very great, 
and the men suffered much. The Hospital was 
upon a high bluff, and all the water used for many 
thousand men was brought by hand, up steep banks, 
quite a distance. The agent* of the Christian 
Commission, sent to Baltimore, obtained a steam 
fire engine, and a street sprinkler. With the 
engine, he pumped the water up from the river, 
giving an abundant supply for all hospital purposes. 
With the sprinkler, he watered all the streets, in 

* John A. Cole, Esq. 
4 



26 

and around the camp, and gavQ unspeakable com- 
fort to more than six thousand suffering men. 

These are but specimens of the work. Whatever 
was needed by suffering humanity, was done by 
these men, who at home were not accustomed to 
labor or privation. They labored hard ; they lived 
upon camp fare ; they slept often upon the ground. 
Many of them gave up their lives, a willing sacri- 
fice ; and at least one half of them came home sick ; 
and all this from love to Christ and men. 

Need I say that when these men told the soldier, 
— by his bed-side in the hospital, from the pulpits of 
the hundreds of chapels of the Christian Commis- 
sion, or by the camp fire under the blue arch of 
heaven, — of that Jesus in whose name they came, the 
power of whose gospel sent them there, the message 
was gladly received, the heart was open, and tender, 
— and that many and many a noble veteran enlisted 
under the banner of thje cross. From all parts of 
the army. East and West, and from the almost 
innumerable hospitals of the land, came up tidings 
of wonderful conversions and reformations, by 
thousands and tens of thousands ; the moral tone 
of the army was raised, and its military efficiency 
increased. 

This extraordinary success was owing not to the 
preaching of the gospel merely, mighty as that is, 
but to the living of the gospel by its preachers. 



27 

Prejudices disappeared, and infidelity broke down, 
before such evidences of the power of Christ's 
redemption. 

Said one soldier, " I have never believed in the 
Bible, or in religion ; but nothing but superhuman 
help would cause these men to come out and work 
so hard for us without pay : this is Christianity ! " 
Said another, " I want to join the church the Chris- 
tian Commission belongs to." Its effects upon 
rebels were no less powerful. After the battle of 
Gettysburg, a delegate passing around among the 
wounded, giving sympathy and aid, came to a 
wounded officer from South Carolina. Said he, 
" Colonel, can I do anything for you *? " " No," was 
the reply, with stubborn defiance. He passed on. 
By and by, he came round again, made a similar 
inquiry, and was again refused. Yet he came again 
the third time to the officer. The air had become 
offensive from heat and wounds ; he was putting 
cologne on the handkerchiefs of one and another, 
as he passed. " Colonel, let me put some of this 
on your handkerchief" The wounded and suffering 
man burst into tears, and said, " I have no handker- 
chief." " Well, you shall have one ; " and wetting 
his own with cologne, he gave it to him. The 
Colonel was now ready to talk. Said he, " I can't 
understand you Yankees ; you fight us like devils, 
and then you treat us like angels. I am sorry I 
entered this war." 



28 

Said a rebel soldier from the Emerald Isle, to the 
Rev. Mr. Cheshire, (who had with his own hands 
stripped, washed and clothed, ninety rebels, whom 
he found lying in filth and neglect, in a barn, 
several days after the battle, — the Irishman among 
the number,) " May every hair of your head he a wax 
taper ^ to light you on your way to glory.'' 

The conviction that the delegates sought not 
their own, but other's good, gave the Commission 
great favor with Government, and with the army. 
Secretary Stanton, that great and determined man, 
to whom we owe so much, under God, for the suc- 
cessful termination of the war, — has ever been a 
fast and active friend of the Commission. He 
recently said to one who congratulated him upon 
the end of the contest, — " Yes, it is well over, 
thanks to God and the Christian Commission." 

The opinion of the army is well expressed by a 
German soldier, who said, " Te Christian Commis- 
sion, — Vy, he ish te best man in ter army. When 
we was town in ter Vilderness, a lying there two 
days and two nights, no pread,no vater, no doctor, no 
nobody, — ter Christian Commission, — he come ; he 
take us all up ; he give us vater ; he wash our face ; 
he bind our wounds ; he ish doctor himself and he 
ish so many. Ten he bring us to ter hospital, 
where he keep by us all te time. He ish te pest 
man in ter army. Vy he work all ter time, just 
like a nigger." 



29 

The sight of the badge, which all the agents 
wore, caused swearing to be hushed and gambling 
to stop. It passed the wearer through guards and 
pickets, and gave favor in sight of all, which is 
quaintly expressed by the remark of another Ger- 
man soldier, on picket at Nashville, after Thomas's 
great battle with Hood. He had strict orders to 
allow no one to pass without the countersign ; 
but an officer saw him pass a man without the 
word, and reproved him ; when he said, " She's 
the Christian Commission, — she go where she's a 
mind to." 

Another result of this following the Master, was 
a Christian Union, in full and perfect operation, in 
the only way in which it has seemed to me possible, 
by the working together in a great cause of those 
who differ in non-essential points of belief When 
men labor and suffer together, for the one Lord, 
whom they all love, and by whose death they all 
live, there is Christian Union indeed, such as no 
high sounding resolutions can produce. All differ- 
ences disappear from sight. 

In the tents of the Commission were found often, 
as many denominations as men ; and as they sang, 
prayed, preached and labored together, there was 
no rivalry, except in good works. In all the ex- 
tended work of the Commission, I know of no 
trouble in the army from denominational jealousy ; 



30 

and in the home field, the denominations have 
worked together in the same harmony. 

May we not hope that this army work, so strange, 
so unique in the world's history, may be the be- 
ginning of the day, when all the branches of the 
host who love the Lord Jesus, like the different 
corps of a great army, shall march together under 
one Leader ; striving only in this, that each shall 
do its part in hastning on the time, when the king- 
doms of this earth ' shall become the kingdom of 
our Lord, and of his Christ.' 

Said an officer of infidel tendencies, in a letter 
I recently received : " The greatest evidence to me 
of the truth of Christianity, is the Christian Com- 
mission, in the union of so many denominations 
in the work. Its influence will be felt a hundred 
years to come." 

Surely, in view of these facts, we can say with 
strong assurance, that if all who profess to love 
the Saviour, shall exhibit their love in their lives, 
the day will not be far distant, when the whole 
earth shall bring forth the glad fruits of Christian 
civilization. 

V. The only other result of the war that time 
will permit us to notice, is the fact that slavery has 
been abolished throughout the land, and the fair 
escutcheon of our nation cleansed from this foul 



31 

blot, which has so often caused us to hang our 
heads in shame. 

Four millions of men made free ! What a sub- 
lime result ! What a joy in the present ! What 
a prospect in the future, when this people and 
their descendants, educated and refined, shall be 
added to the power and ' wealth of the nation ! 
Nor is this all. Millions of poor whites will be 
freed with them, from the worse slavery of their 
ignorance and their passions, as education and the 
gospel shall enter the waste places. The laborers 
of the South, whether white or black, if we are 
faithful to our opportunities, will become like the 
laborers of the North, intelligent and virtuous, the 
best support of our republican institutions. But 
to secure such glorious results, we must be active 
and vigilant. 

All men at the South now admit that slavery is 
dead ; but Southern men are not disposed to give 
negroes the rights of freemen. They look upon 
them with hatred, as the cause of their defeat and 
humiliation. They will not give them a standing 
in the courts ; will not educate them ; nor allow 
others to do it, if they can prevent it; and will 
not make them their equals at the polls. 

What shall be done with the freedmen, is the 
question that fills the thoughts of all. One thing 
is certain ; we are bound by every sentiment of 



32 

honor and humanity, to secure to them and their 
posterity forever, freedom loith all its blessings and 
privileges. These men have fought for us ; they 
have aided our armies always ; they have fed our 
starving prisoners ; they have sheltered them when 
flying from starvation and death, and guided them 
to our camps. They have been almost the only 
unconditional Union men at the South, during the 
whole war. 

We must choose between two results. The 
millions of freedmen, " must be either an educated, 
industrious, land-holding, arms-bearing, tax-paying, 
voting, self-protecting population ; or an untaught, 
indolent, disfranchised and debased population." 
Which shall it be 1 For myself, I am prepared 
to give them now, and unconditionally, the bayonet 
and the ballot^ the.means of protecting and governing 
themselves. 

I have no fears for the consequences of such ac- 
tion. The possession of arms will not result in the 
massacre of the whites. The negro soldiers have 
never shown any vindictive spirit, though subject 
to many provocations ; and they manifest, on the 
whole, a kindly spirit toward their old masters, 
often aiding them in their distress. 

They will vote right on all great questions of 
Liberty and Union. They understood the issues 
of the war, and know who have been and are 



33 

their friends, and they are rapidly improving in 
education and knowledge, under the stimulus of 
hope and freedom. As a whole, they are deeply 
religious, and the principles of the gospel have a 
strong hold upon them, though often expressed in 
ludicrous forms. 

They are gaining property wherever they have 
an opportunity, and from all parts of the South 
they are sending up the cry, " Give us teachers !" 
Within the past two years, the colored people of 
Alexandria, Virginia, have built over one thousand 
dwelling houses, costing from three hundred dol- 
lars to one thousand dollars each. They have 
erected three churches, and have invested over five 
thousand dollars in ground rents. And now, out 
of a population of over eight thousand, only twen- 
ty-three are drawing rations from the Government. 
In other parts of the South like favorable results 
are reported. 

Are not our peace and liberties as secure in the 
hands of a people so gentle, so religious, showing 
such ability to take care of themselves, and such 
desires and capacity for education, as in the hands 
of an aristocracy, embittered, exasperated, and 
humiliated, but, in their own words, not subdued 
by defeat "? In this as in all other cases, it seems 
to me, what is just is also expedient. And such 
I believe will be the policy of our President and 
Congress. 



34 

President Johnson recently . said, in substance, 
*' that if the Southern States would not alter their 
constitutions and laws, to correspond with their 
present circumstances, and preferred to live under 
the Provost Marshal, let them try it." Shall we 
not all agree with the spirit of this remark, and 
keep from our Congress all Southern Represen- 
tatives till justice is done 1 

We have a country saved from rebellion and 
slavery ; a Government strong and free ; citizens 
glowing with patriotism, abounding in benevolence 
and Christian action. In view of such results, 
how fitting that our people should assemble on 
the marts of trade in our great cities, and sing, 
" Praise God from whom all blessings flow." That 
our President should, in his inaugural, vindicate 
the ways of God to men, and our nation put upon 
its coin the sublime motto, " In God we trust." 

But our work is not all done. We have estab- 
lished the authority of the Government ; we have 
vindicated the honor of our flag ; we have freed 
the slaves. It now remains for us to build up the 
waste places in our vast southern regions ; to 
educate the millions just emerging from bondage, 
and the millions of white men whose ignorance, if 
possible, is greater. To establish the school-house 
and the meeting-house, those twin sisters of Ameri- 
can civilization, upon every hill-top, and in every 



35 

valley ; to fling to each breeze which sweeps over 
the mountains and plains of the South, with the 
stars and stripes, the emblem of liberty, — the banner 
of the cross, the blessed emblem of the better 
liberty wherewith Christ Jesus maketh his people 
free. Then will our nation be established on a 
firm foundation ; the hatreds of civil war cease ; 
and our whole people, as brethren, worship around 
the common altar of liberty and religion. 

This is a mighty work, but surely the patriotism, 
self-denial and benevolence, which have carried us 
triumphantly through the war, will not fail now. 
Let no one regret that he has not been able to 
gird on the harness for the bloody fighj;. Peace 
has her conquests and her victories, no less than 
war ; where the patriot, the scholar, the philan- 
thropist, and the Christian, will find scope for their 
best energies. 

To secure this glorious result, let our wise men 
give of their wisdom ; our young men, of their 
strength ; our rich men, of their riches ; and our 
women, their prayers, sympathy and aid, as here- 
tofore, and soon " the desert shall rejoice and blos- 
som as the rose." 

With reverence to God, and humble confidence 
in Him, — " with malice towards none, with charity 
for all ; with firmness in the right, as God gives 
us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the 



36 

work we are in ; to bind up the nation's wound ; 
to care for him who has borne the battle, and for 
his widow and orphans ; to do all which may 
achieve and cherish a just and a lasting peace 
among ourselves, and with all nations." 

Then may we hope for the blessing that shall 
come upon that " Nation whose God is the Lord." 



APPENDIX 



The meetings of the Alumni this year, were exceedingly- 
pleasant and harmonious, and gave promise of a brighter 
future for " Old Williams." 

At the Hall, Judge Paige, the President, gave an eloquent 
address on taking the chair, and speeches were made by 
Major General Truman Seyimour, Brig. General Alden, 
Hon. Bushnell White, Hon. Amasa Walker, Major C. N. 
Emerson, Charles Demond, Esq., and others. The Hall 
was crowded, and the forenoon was too short for the out- 
pouring of emotion, and the tribute of affection to the 
deceased brethren. 

At the Church, after the delivery of the Address and 
Poem, feelings of mingled sympathy and gratitude were 
awakened, as President Hopkins announced that an early 
Alumnus had recently made a donation to the College of 
$10,000 ; and that a letter (given below) had just come to 
hand from Hon. David Dudley Field, an Alumnus whose 
love for Williams has been so often manifested, announcing a 
gift of $25,000. 

Stockbridge, July 31, 1865. 
3Ty Dear Durfee: 

You know what a severe blow I have just received, in the 
sudden death of my little grand-daughter, my only grand-child, 
who for nearly four years has been my delight, and whose body 



38- 

we have to-day laid in the grave. Will ^ou please explain this 
cause of my absence to my Classmates, and tell them how much 
I shall miss the expected meeting with them and other friends 
at the present Commencement. In considering what most 
fitting memorial I could raise to this cherished little one, I have 
thought that none could be better than some endowment of that 
Institution where her father and grand-father were educated, 
and where the President and Professor of Astronomy are her 
kinsmen. I propose therefore to give twenty-five thousand dol- 
lars to "the President and Trustees," for the purpose of found- 
ing in her name, either a new Professorship or a new Hall, 
whichever may be preferred, on conferring with the oflScers of 
the College. * * * Believe me ever. 

Faithfully yours, 

DAVID DUDLEY FIELD. 
Rev. Calvin Durfee. 

After the exercises at the Church were concluded, the 
Alumni met around the beautiful Monument, which has 
been erected on the brow of the hill, a little east of Griffin 
Hall, (the old Chapel,) to the memory of the sons of 
Williams who have fallen in the war — for the purpose of 
dedicating it. Prayer was offered by President Hopkins ; 
most appropriate addresses were made by Hon. James D. 
Colt, of Pittsfield ; Hon. Joseph White, of Williamstown ; 
Hon. A. B. Olin, of Washington, D. C, and Hon. Emory 
Washburn, of Cambridge. 

The names to be placed upon the Monument are, — Lewis 
Benedict, of the Class of '37 ; Horace I. Hodges, '42 ; George 
D. Wells, '46 ; Thomas S. Bradley, '48 ; Henry S. Leonard, 
'49; N. Orson Benjamin, '51; David B. Greene, '52; John 
Foote, '55 ; William R. Baxter and Charles E. Halsey, '56 ; 
Charles D. Sanford, '58 ; David M. Holton and Edgar 
Philps, '59 ; Edward S. Brewster, John H. Goodhue, George 
A. Parker and Edward K. Wilcox, '62 ; Henri H. Buxton, 



89 

'63 ; Edson T. Dresser, George Hicks and Edward P. 
Hopkins, '64 ; Fordyce A. Dyer, '65. Others may hereafter 
be added. 

Arrangements were made to build this Monument two 
years ago, and our Alma Mater is the first to inaugurate the 
commemoration of the heroism of the graduates of Colleges, 
as she has been the first in so many other good works. 

This Commencement was marked by having but one 
session in the Church, which gave time for some delightful 
speaking at the dinner table, a custom from which we antici- 
pate much pleasure in future. 

The Alumni were all delighted with the new Hall, just 
completed, for gymnasium and chemical purposes. It is 
built of broken stone, in the Renaissance style of architecture, 
and is wonderful for the variety and perfection of its difierent 
aspects. It has cost about $30,000, is wholly the gift of the 
Hon. J. Z. Goodrich, a noble son of Berkshire, and is called 
Goodrich Hall. Mr. Goodrich has recently given twenty- 
five thousand dollars in addition, to endow a Professorship of 
Physical Education. 



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